St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-21

promise:
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will
sustain thee.
Why should you carry your burdens any
longerl Oh, you weary soul, Christ has
been in this conflict. He says:
NV grace shall be sufficient for you. You
shall not be tempted above that you are able
to bear
Therefore, with all your temptations,
60 as these disciples did, and tell Jesus.
Again, commend the behavior of the
disciples to all those who are abused and
slandered and prosecuted. When Herod
put John to death the disciples knew that
their own heads were not safe. And do
you know that every John has Herod!
There are persons in life who do not wish
you very well. Through their teeth they
hiss at you, misinterpret your motives,
and would be glad to see you upset No
man gets through life without
having pummeling. Some SANDER
comes after YOU, horned and huskod and
hoofcd, to gore and trample you; and
what are you to do! l tell you plainly
that all who serve Christ must suffer per-
secution. 1t is the worst sign in the
world for you to be able to say:
Il haven't an enemy in the world
A woe is pronounced in the Bible
against the one of whom every body
speaks we'll. If you are at peace with all
the world, and every boiy likes you and
approves your work it is because you are
an idler in the Lords vineyard and are
not doing your duty.
ALI those who have served Christ, how
ever eminent, have been maltreated at
some stage of their experience. You
know it was so in the time of George
Whitefield, when he stood and invited
men into the kingd1 n of God. What did
the learned Dr. Johnson say of him! He
pronounced him miserable mountebank.
How was it when Robert Hall stood and
spoke as scarcely any uninspired man
ever did speak of the glories of Heaven:
preaching on these themes his face
kindled with the glory John Foster, a
Christian man, said of this man:
"Robert Hall is only acting, and the
smile on his face is reflection of his own
vanity"
John Wesley turned all England upside
down with Christian reform, and yet the
Dunsters were after him, and the meanest
jokes in England were perpetrated about
John Wesley. What is true of the pulpit
is true of the pew; it is true of the street,
it Is true Of the shop and the store. All
who will live godly in Christ Jesus must
suffer persecution.
And set it down as the very worst sign
in all your Christian experience if you
are, any of you, at peace with the world
The religion of Christ is war. 1t is a
challenge to "the world, the flesh and the
devil;" and if you will buckle on the
whole armor of God you will find great
host disputing your path between this
and Heaven. But what are you to do
when you are assaulted and slandered
and abused as suppose nearly all of you
have been in your life' Go out and hunt
up the slanderer2 o, no, silly man!
While you are explaining away false
hood in one place fifty people will just
have heard of it in other places
l counsel you to another course. While
you are not to omit any opportunity of
setting yourselves right, want to tell
you this morning of one who had the hard
est things said about him, whose sobriety
was disputed, whose mission was scout
ed, whose ompanionship was denounced,
who was pursued as babe and spit upon
as man, who was howled at after he was
dead. I will have you go unto him with
your bruised soul, in some humble, child
prayer, saying:
81 see thy wounds-wounds of head,
wounds OF feet, wounds of heart. Now,
look at my wounds, and see what have
suffered, and through what battles am
going; and Ientreat thee, by those wounds
of thine, sympathize with me-"
And he will sympathize, and he will
help. Go and tell Jesus!
Again, commend the behavior of the
disciples to all who may have been be-
reaved. How many in garb of mourning!
If you could stand at this point where 1
am standing and look off upon this au-
dience, how many signals of sorrow you
would behold! God has his own way of
taking apart family. We must get out
of the way for coming generations. We
must get off the stage that others may
come on, and for this reason there is a
long procession reaching down all the
time into the valley of shadows.
This emigration from time into eternity
is so vast an enterprise that we can not
understand it, Every hour we hear the
clang of the sepulchral gate. The sod
must be broken. The ground must be
plowed for resurrection harvest Eter-
nifty must be peopled. The dust must
press our eyellds.
1t Is appointed unto all men once to die.
This emigration from time into eternity
keeps three-fourths of the families of the
earth in desolation. The air is rent with
farewells, and the black tasseled vehicles
of death rumble through every street.
The body of the child that was folded
so closely to the mothers heart is put
away in the cold and darkness. The
laughter freezes to the girls lip, and the
rose scatters The boy in the harvest
field Of Shunam says:
s'My head my head'' and they carry
him home to die in the lap of his mother.
Widowhood stands with tragedies of
woe struck into the pallor of the cheek.
Orphanage cries in vain for father and
mother. Oh, the grave is cruel! With
teeth Of stone it clutches for it's prey. Be-
tween the closing gate of the sepulcher,
l,ea aexlrsd a,ad bod L